Chapter 101: Trust?
When Hiro’s host and Elizabeth returned to the batkin village, she found her people there, feasting on the cows and sheep Rebecca had given them yesterday. The sight wasn’t as grotesque as Rebecca thought. They were clean. They hung and drained the cattle just like a normal butcher would. The only difference was how the blood was collected instead of thrown away. It was collected in a basin, which was then scooped out using bowls and drunk.
“Where is everybody? Are they sleeping?” Elizabeth asked.
“…Chief, I heard you have allied yourself with the humans. They said that you are a traitor. Is that true?” one batkin said. Rebecca’s eyes turned sharp. This was the critical moment. If they screwed up here, then Elizabeth would lose all the trust in the village and a civil war would happen.
“Hm? Of course not. They are the ones who are traitors. They have broken the taboos. You know you shouldn’t drink human blood until they are dead. They should know restraint.”
“…They turned into vampires. A scout saw what happened in the mining village. So, even after 500 years, is our effort in vain?” the batkin said.
“No. We have turned into batkins. It is working! As long as we didn’t kill humans, we all can stand in the light of day!” Elizabeth said.
“…”
However, Elizabeth’s enthusiasm was met with disappointed frowns. From their expressions, Hiro understood. Why? Why must they obey such customs? Why must they abandon the powers granted by the vampire? If Hiro thought about it as a gamer, it didn’t seem like it made sense. The three villagers who were transformed were stronger than Elizabeth, their matriarch. Even Hiro had to use his doping skills with his girls so they could go toe to toe with them.
But from humanity’s point of view, Hiro somehow understood. Their ancestors probably wanted their race to abandon the way of war—the way of killing. But of course, peace came with a steep price. For five hundred years, they lived in seclusion. If not for the loyal dovekin tribe, this would never have worked.
“It’s all for naught. We are still vampires. They came to our land, invaded us. And you are saying we should let them slaughter us like that?” the villager said.
“No. That’s not what I mean.”
“Without a vampire’s strength, how are we supposed to even repel these invaders? If we must be enslaved by our circumstances…”
“Don’t say that! Are you saying we must abandon what our ancestors worked so hard to attain? These 500 years are not in vain! You knew that. Look! You guys can sit here, chatting under the morning sun.”
Elizabeth’s effort was met with a lukewarm reception. They neither accepted nor denied Elizabeth’s words. The sour mood lingered as they disbanded to their homes. Inside her home, Elizabeth gave a defeated look toward Rebecca.
“That was a pathetic display. Sorry you had to see that. Some village chief I really am, right?” Elizabeth sighed as she looked toward her village. In this month alone, a family of batkin, including three batkins who had turned into vampires, had perished.
“And we are about to accept a newborn, too. Claire will give birth next week,” Elizabeth said.
“So, what are you going to do, Elizabeth?” Rebecca asked.
“Give me some time. I will try to persuade them,” Elizabeth said. “Are you sure whatever village Duke Daneswald has can cater to all of us? Dovekin included, I mean.”
“…Yeah. If it was just a hundred or two, there would be no problem. Quantora Town, a small town where we came from has over 3,000 people,” Rebecca nodded.
“What about our food? Dovekin can eat grain. But we can only drink blood,” Elizabeth said.
Rebecca frowned. That was the tricky part. They could become butchers and shepherds. With food secured, they could also drink dovekin blood with internal supervision. But could this arrangement last? The biggest problem was not the blood. It was public perception. How could they make sure it stayed hidden?
“The cattle and blood aren’t the problem,” Rebecca said. “You can buy it for almost nothing from butchers.”
Butchers usually dumped cattle blood into farms as fertilizer or into sewage. It could technically be processed into sausage, but the demand was very low.
“Ah. It’s their sight, huh?” Elizabeth sighed. Rebecca nodded.
“This is an opportunity. If you say it publicly—that you only drink cattle’s blood—you could get away with it,” Rebecca said. Elizabeth turned to her.
“Even if they accept that we eat cattle, what about the ritual? Without it, we can’t procreate,” Elizabeth turned away. Rebecca agreed. Their procreation ritual was problematic.
“Um… do you have to use coffins in your ritual? Honestly, that was a bit creepy,” Cecile smiled wryly.
“When a girl wants to have a child, she needs to drink human blood. But during gestation, an intense hunger deprives them of reason, so they must be bound,” Elizabeth said. “Coffins are the easiest, as they can also prevent them from seeing other humans and they don’t hurt them like chains do.”
“Ah. It goes to such lengths that they could even hurt their own hands, huh?” Rebecca nodded. “How long must she be fed like that?”
“They must be fed humanoid blood under supervision to prevent them from breaching the taboo.”
“Does the taboo mean drinking until the hosts die?” Rebecca asked, and Elizabeth nodded.
“The gestation lasts for nine months, just like humans. But only in the last four months do we need to watch over her. During that time, we need to feed her weekly with humanoid blood. The rest can be done with any blood. They need to drink twice as much, though.”
“Thank you for the information, Elizabeth. Could we report this to Duke Daneswald and Marissa?” Rebecca had to report this to her either way, but it was more polite to ask for permission. If the whole village was to move, they had to make some arrangements.
“…Can you add in some good words? At least, try to embellish it so it is not as horrifying as it sounds. Make it look like we are not rabid beasts.” Despite her determination, Elizabeth was hesitant. She knew she was breaking her village’s taboo. The rule said this village must remain hidden away from sight, and she was about to announce the existence of batkins to the world.
“Marissa will definitely understand. Don’t worry. We have a lich at home. A lich is way higher in the undead extermination chain than vampires,” Rebecca smiled.
“If you say so…” Elizabeth said. Her hands trembled as she reached for Rebecca’s sleeves. It was horrifying to trust your entire fate to someone you had never met.
Fear haunted her steps. At this moment, Hiro felt closer to Elizabeth than ever before. As a parasitic tentacle and a NEET in his previous life, Hiro had suffered isolation the same way these batkins did. When he saw how Elizabeth looked down in fright, he understood. The batkins and Hiro dreamed of one thing: to be accepted by the world—to step out into the light with pride. This would be the first step.
“Alright. We shall be on our way then,” Rebecca nodded.
When she left, she saw several batkins eyeing her from a distance. Rebecca had a bad premonition about this, but just like how Elizabeth trusted her, she decided to trust her as well. Elizabeth said she would persuade her kin to accept the migration. This was the best way for the batkins’ future, and she knew that. It was all up to Elizabeth to convince her tribe.
“Can it even be called a tribe when there are barely two dozen people there?” Rebecca sighed as she headed to the mining village’s town hall to write her sealed letter.
The soldiers greeted them with a warm welcome. With the real vampires dead, their good name was also restored. They would no longer be branded as psychopathic knights seeking to murder every beastkin, but rather as having made a mistake. Vampires were rare. Their description only existed in literature or adventurers’ handbooks, and most people were not as studious about details as mages like Rebecca. Most vampires usually attacked and killed on sight, after all, so it made sense to make mistakes. That’s how the town hall and the knights wanted to frame this incident.
“Thank you, Rebecca. You have certainly saved our good name. We might be blamed for incompetence, but this is much better than how the dovekin had accused us before,” the knight captain greeted Rebecca at the town hall.
“You are welcome, Captain. I was thinking of moving the entire dovekin and batkin to Quantora. Living here in the middle of the mountain is harsh. Food is scarce. Many suffer during winter, and they have to eat bugs to survive,” Rebecca said.
“Oh! Of course! You have our full support! I will ask Lady Leafa to aid you with food. The Senestry household shall cooperate with you! Hunger should not exist in Litmus!” the captain said. Litmus was an agrarian country with many flatlands suitable for pasture and farms. The captain’s words were Litmus’s motto.
“But, well, will they agree, though? I think it would be best if they found employment in the village. That way they won’t have to travel away from their homes,” the captain frowned. Displacing the whole village also left them with a bad taste. It felt like they were taking the dovekins’ home for dirt and some random worthless stone. It’s not like the village itself had any valuable commodities. They didn’t infringe on their rights either. Their tribes lived there at the border.
“What job do you propose, Captain? Food is more expensive here, right? The dovekins have no special abilities. They are physically weak, so they are not suitable to become miners or laborers. The only thing they could probably sell was their feathers. As for batkins… they could fight, but since the enemies around here share similar traits, I doubt you would want them as your knights. There might be friendly fire.”
“Ah, you are completely right. Sorry. That was just a passing thought. You certainly had put more thought into it than I did,” the captain nodded.
“Yes. They are still discussing it. I hope they agree,” Rebecca smiled wryly.
“I see. Thank you for mediating between us,” the knight then saluted. After Rebecca wrote her report, she sealed the envelope and asked for a messenger to deliver it to Marissa, then returned to the dovekin’s home after a hearty lunch in a nearby restaurant.
The problems seemed to sort themselves out. But Hiro was concerned. So he split his tentacle and moved into the night—to Elizabeth’s home, to spy on them.